Modeling atmospheric O 2 over Phanerozoic time

Abstract

A carbon and sulfur isotope mass balance model has been constructed for calculating the variation of atmospheric O 2 over Phanerozoic time. In order to obtain realistic O 2 levels, rapid sediment recycling and O 2-dependent isotope fractionation have been employed by the modelling. The dependence of isotope fractionation on O 2 is based, for carbon, on the results of laboratory photosynthesis experiments and, for sulfur, on the observed relation between oxidation/reduction recycling and S-isotope fractionation during early diagenetic pyrite formation. The range of fractionations used in the modeling agree with measurements of Phanerozoic sediments by others. Results, derived from extensive sensitivity analysis, suggest that there was a positive excursion of O 2 to levels as high as 35% during the Permo-Carboniferous. High O 2 at this time agrees with independent modeling, based on the abundances of organic matter and pyrite in sediments, and with the occurrence of giant insects during this period. The cause of the excursion is believed to be the rise of vascular land plants and the consequent increased production of O 2 by the burial in sediments of lignin-rich organic matter that was resistant to biological decomposition.